Lewis bowles



(No Model.)

L. BOWLES. DIAPER.

No. 584,204. Patented June 8, 1897,

UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

LEYVIS BOW'LES, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE INTERNATIONAL TOILET COMPANY.

DIAPER.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 584,204, dated June 8, 1897.

Application filed August 17,1894. Renewed November 24, 1896. Serial No. 618,364. (No specimens.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEWIS BOWLES, a citizen of the United States ,residing at San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Infants Napkins; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to an infants napkin or diaper; and the object of the invention is to furnish such a napkin which will be comfortable and easy for the child, which shall possess the power of absorption, and yet shall be so cheaply manufactured and can be sold at such small cost that it can be thrown away after use and another substituted. In the care of infant children it is necessary to use large numbers of these napkins, usually made of soft cloth and changed several times daily. Since the washing of these napkins must always be performed in the house, it imposes and necessitates a constant and unpleasant duty upon the household.

My invention is designed to overcome these objections to the use of the ordinary napkins by providing a substitute for them of cheap material, which, after use, need only be thrown away.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a plan view; Fig. 2, a cross-section; Fig. 3, a separate view of the collar between the main napkin and the absorbent pad.

A represents the napkin, of paper of sufficient strength and waterproof in any suitable manner, and which can be medicated, if preferred. I have found suitable for my purposes the paper in which fine Japanese goods are inclosed for transmission to other countries, but any thin waterproof paper may be substituted. This paper napkin of substantially the form shown in Fig. 1 is gathered centrally through a hole B in a supportingcollar 0. This collar is made of thin pasteboard or it may be a rubber band or a flexible ring of any suit-able material, and when the paper has been gathered through it there is formed a bag or holder for a pad D of absorbent material, such as cotton woolor wood wool, which is thus surrounded or inclosed by a waterproof covering E, composed of the paper of the napkin. Nhen I speak of the part 0 as a collar and of gathering the paper through it, it will be readily understood that an opening is provided with absorbent material beneath it, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. This forms the drainage-opening. In applying the napkin an ordinary cloth napkin is usually, though not necessarily, bound around and outside of the paper napkin, and the same pins secure both in place. Thus one cloth napkin is saved from being soiled while a number of the paper napkins may have been used, and as each is used it is thrown away. The thin collar of paper-board or other material conforms to the childs body, andpso the whole napkin is rendered comfortable, while in manufacture it is very inexpensive.

The advantages of my invention have been set forth in this description and need no detailed recital.

Having described my invention, I claim An infants napkin or diaper made of waterproof paper gathered through a flexible ring, and inclosing an absorbent pad, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature, in presence of two Witnesses, this 28th day of June, 1894-.

LEWIS BO'WLES. \Vitn esses L. WV. SEELY, M. R. BRYAN. 

